Texas Rangers Blog

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — So starved for news, so desperate for action, were the assembled masses at the Gaylord Opryland hotel Tuesday that they sunk into the madness of hysteria.

As the second day of the winter meetings got rolling, a late-morning tweet said the Rangers were “progressing” on a deal for Josh Hamilton. Within an hour, major league sources were discussing a four-year offer of more than $100 million. Because of that, the Rangers could not afford Zack Greinke and had moved into talks on a three-way deal that would get them Tampa Bay’s James Shields. Oh, and they were considering giving into the Arizona Diamondbacks’ demand for a shortstop and swapping Elvis Andrus for Justin Upton.

When Rangers general manager Jon Daniels finally emerged from the club’s spider hole early in the evening to brief the media, he had just one small issue: The Rangers hadn’t met with Hamilton or his agent, Mike Moye.

“Nothing has changed from the last time we met [with the media],” Daniels said. “I said to our guys in the room: ‘Who slipped out of here and got a deal done?’”

The rumor had taken on a life of its own.

How in the world does that happen?

Well, in this case, the rumors simply make too much sense. Or, to be clichéd: Where there is smoke, there is usually fire.

Two days into the meetings and it’s become clear the overwhelming opinion of baseball scouts and executives in Nashville is that Hamilton eventually will return to Texas. That he will do so on a contract of three to five years. That the average annual value of the contract will be about $25 million. And that the Rangers will have to target another pitcher because they can’t afford Hamilton and free agent Greinke.

OK, Elvis for Upton may be completely nuts, but, hey, once these things get rolling, folks get a little carried away.

So on Tuesday, when the rumors started to worm their way through the lobby, it was easy to fall under their sway. It all makes too much sense. So much, in fact, that if it all happens again Wednesday, this time it’s more likely to be fact.